Loudon Wainwright III: Show Report

Let us just preface this report with a couple comments.  Yes, we realize that the Loudon show was over a month ago.  (Sometimes time gets away from us.  What can you do?) But in all seriousness, we had an enthusiastic concert-goer who agreed to write up a show review for us.  We were happy to give him the cyber space if he would provide the copy.  And so it goes... we give you Grant Olson of DeKalb and his take on the February 1st show:

The first time I saw Loudon Wainwright was at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis – it must have been about 1973, but such recollections can be a bit foggy.  He stood up, solo acoustic and ripped into his original ballads.  A couple years ago, I saw Loudon in Milwaukee at the Pabst Theater with Richard Thompson – they were billing the tour “Loud & Rich.”  At that show, however, I wondered if he was losing it; he kept looking at his watch and seemed unfocused.  When I heard he was coming to the Uptown Grill, I did not hesitate.  I am still a loyal fan.  And when Loudon took the stage on an extremely cold night, he lit up with “You Don’t Want to Know,” which begins by proclaiming just how cold it was:  “…colder than the shoulder of my old flame…” and so on.  We all warmed up very quickly.